Origin: Eternity's End

by Uneeb Qureshi

  Monica buried the flag pole in the ground, taping the paint half way up its haft. She planted the flag on the top of the hill deep enough to prevent it from moving out of its position.

  And with this I will see you in the morning, she thought with a smile.

  Back at camp, Mekias oversaw the last of the equipment being loaded onto the trucks. He was startled when Monica plucked the cowboy hat off his head and placed it on hers.

  “You will not believe what I’ve found.” She said almost teasing Mekias to question her.

  “My name is Mekias Yohannes goddamnit, so unless you unearthed a Roualt in this wasteland I would not care about what can be done tomorrow.” Mekias responded, signaling Monica to board the van.

  “Oh we will need an entire excavation crew tomorrow believe me,” she said with a wry smile boarding the rickety exterior of the pick-up truck, “You boys will be in for a busy day.”

  Chapter 4

  The Day the World Changed Forever

  The Next Day

  Monica was normally a morning person, but her findings the previous night gave her an unusually exorbitant amount of energy today. She placed all of her extraneous gear in her rucksack. If it is what I think it is we’ve got something bigger than, she thought, well anything we’ve uncovered in the past month…

  Mekias was still sleeping in. As acting site operator it was his duty to make sure everything went according to time and budget, mornings however just did not work for him. The two had very long histories together and each was able to appreciate the other’s lacking.

  Monica was twenty years old when she was placed as Mekias’ site assistant, and the two immediately argued on every topic from the proper handling procedures for site findings to the types of bottled water that was given on site. They naturally got along. Over time the two became an unstoppable duo, leading research efforts across several continents.

  Monica made her way down the hotel stairs to Mekias’ floor. Her heart was pounding at the thought of returning to the site. Her subtle knocking turned to an excessive barrage of thwacks on his door as if trying to wake the dead.

  Mekias jumped out of bed with dread wondering if hell was pounding on his door. He had not changed out of his clothes the night before. He smelled his breath, Yeah definitely would have forgot to change last night. His hangover took full effect as he got out of bed, putting his hand on the door he wearily rubbed his face, it can only be one of two people…he thought as he opened the door, and surprisingly it is not the worse of the two. He finished as he stared into Monica’s energetic smile.

  “Get up and get ready, we have a busy day ahead of us!” screamed Monica.

  Well at least it’s only her.

  “We? The dig doesn’t have to be open for another few hours, I still gotta get some supplies from town and all…”

  “But there’s a huge surprise waiting for us back at the dig!” She noted his weariness, “You head out last night?”

  She grabbed his collar and sniffed it briefly, she pretended to experience a revelation as she smiled and sarcastically surveyed the room with her eyes.

  “Somebody’s been getting busy, any ladies in here?”

  Har, har. He thought, unable to formulate a comeback.

  “I have standards, as surprising as that may seem. It’s been a rough week.”

  “Well I promise today will be a very exciting day.” She said with a playful punch to his abdomen.

  “Yes I know,” he put his hand over his abdomen in playful jest, “that flag and a can of paint you buried into the hillside yesterday! Maybe we can play capture the flag in these excavation sites, interns versus superiors, it’ll be a great precursor to our fun-filled day in the sand! Monica you’re making me feel like a kid again, I’m actually starting to feel excited about this job!”

  “Somebody’s crying like a bitch.” Monica said sensing the sarcasm in his voice.

  Mekias wearily stared at the ceiling. I’m so going to regret this.

  The team assembled outside as per Monica’s orders. Mekias grabbed his rucksack and held it loosely by the strap. Her hunches are always useful I guess…today better not be April Fools. He couldn’t recall today’s date.

  I’ll wash up a bit more in a nearby river. He thought.

  He pulled himself onto the back of the truck and began to slump his head back onto the truck’s loose wooden rear pen. He could faintly make out Monica barking at the dig crew as he grabbed some more shut eye.

  As Monica finalized the equipment Mekias caught her eye. He looked unusually disheveled as he dozed off in the rear of the truck.

  He’s not going to regret this.

  Monica jumped onto the lead van as the convoy pulled out of the hotel onto the main road.

  She could not help but stare out the window at the markets that dotted the backstreets of the city. Distant memories resurfaced as she scanned the desolate streets before her, she was no stranger to this land. She had spent much of her life in Africa because of her mother’s work. And to her, it was her only true home.

  The palm trees and narrow alleyways gave her a sense of being in a different world, to a more exotic and peaceful time. She eventually tired herself watching the city drive by her.

  Monica was a child of the world, having travelled the world over. But for all of her grand international adventures she did not have any close ties with her family. They lived almost entirely in Italy, and a family feud involving her mother had since alienated Monica from most of her relatives. Their family had amassed their wealth through numerous banking institutions throughout history, many of whom closely worked for the Istituto per le Opere di Religione, commonly known as the Vatican Bank.

  Not wanting her daughter to be raised in such a setting Monica’s mother took her to Africa to continue her work. Regardless of the success her family enjoyed, she wanted Monica to grow outside of such an isolated atmosphere. She had hoped Monica would travel the world and learn about other cultures and appreciate the plethora of people that inhabit it.

  But through all the years Monica had still felt alone. Her mother never told her who her father was and refused to share any information about him until she was older.

  She was told that he loved them both very dearly before he died. Her closest relatives who still cared for her were her uncle and grandfather. Though her uncle traveled abroad much of the time, he was still her mother’s brother and thus very dear to her. On the other hand her grand-father was one of the most powerful men in Italy, chairing much of the bank’s internal assets. Her grand-father adored Monica. But it did not matter now, everything had changed years ago.

  In the late nineties Somalian warlords and militias were responsible for some of the most violent genocides in African history. The United Nations ordered convoys to recover any and all foreign nationals and escort them out of known conflict zones. Monica and her mother were amongst those separated under siege in the backstreets of remote Somalian villages. The military personnel escorting Monica from her home while another convoy was sent to pick up her mother from her work in the city.

  The blistering heat that day had been complemented only by yelling and gunfire all around. She covered her eyes and prayed for it all to be over.

  “Only foreigners!” She remembered soldiers yelling to Somalis trying to escape the wartorn city.

  Monica was young at the time but the memories never escaped her.

  She remembered a childhood friend of hers running through the streets only to be killed in the crossfire between militias and UN troops. Monica screamed through it all but amidst all the retaliatory gunfire her cries were lost. She could still hear the gunfire and the shouts of the soldiers scrambling for cover.

  The bloody scenes that played out in her mind had no end. It seemed like every time she reminisced about them they changed somewhat. She remembered screaming for her mother but nobody listened, she was just another child to them.

  Those soldiers that did try to communicate with her onl
y spoke English. Monica did not understand them at the time and she could only mouth to them in Italian, “Where is my mother.”

  Her memories cycled in and out of that day. But for everything she wanted to forget, the memory of her mother still remained. Her mother had been helping injured Somalis get to safety with other peacekeepers in the city. Her selflessness was one of the proudest traits Monica could recall, yet it was the reason she was no longer here.

  The caravan stopped at some alleyway in the city during the two-day siege only to allow Monica one last glimpse of her mother. Or so she thought at the time. She fought against the soldiers to run up to her mother in the distance.

  Stuck between the world she knew and the world she wanted, Monica finally stared eye to eye with her mother who was elated to see her daughter safe amidst the conflict. The solace she felt in her mother’s gaze made her forget the war, death, and the world. But the last few seconds of the memory were shrouded by explosions and gunfire, then as everything settled her mother had disappeared.

  Returning to the present Monica shifted in her seat, only taking a moment to look outside to see how close they were to the dig site. She had not gotten much sleep the night before. After gazing outside the window a few moments longer her mother’s name and memory reverberated in her head.

  Lucia…Lucia Bianchi…

  Monica awoke as the site began to fill with yelling. It was nearly four hours since they left the hotel and the early morning sunlight turned into a hellish noon. Her drowsy state left her at a loss of words.

  Typical.

  She got out of the van and walked wearily towards Mekias in the distance. The site seemed to be rushing with energy around her.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?” Mekias said.

  Monica approached the edge of the pit and stared in horror.

  “Ready to lift!” One crane operator yelled.

  With the whole crew pulling winches, the last slab of rock covering the find was lifted. The team stared in awe at the fruit of their labor. A hominid skeleton encased in alien-like armor was strewn before them. Its missing helmet revealed its only human features.

  It’s Homo Sapien? Monica thought, dumbfounded at its modern anatomy.

  Mekias and Monica examined it closer.

  “I can’t tell what it is, but it looks like a modern human. Its covering must have protected its lower limbs. We have to find a way to open it.”

  “Get on the satellite phone, we need to get this to the museum.” Mekias said.

  Monica hands felt light, the weight of the discovery seemed to weaken her body. Others crowded around the discovery. Whispers began to circulate amongst the crew.

  “Is this real?”

  “Maybe it’s a dead soldier.”

  The theories began to postulate endlessly yet Monica and Mekias paid no attention.

  “I think I found something.” Monica whispered. Her fingers trailed behind the skeleton’s remains into its exoskeleton interior.

  Somewhere in Orbit

  Moments Later

  Aboard an invisible frigate in orbit, a man stared out of his office looking towards the Earth. The black contour of his armor was similar to the one uncovered on the skeleton in Ethiopia yet much more elegant and functional.

  His torso was layered by numerous layers of scale-like panels allowing increased range of motion. His appendages were covered by thinner, filament-like skin. He appeared as much man as machine.

  He was interrupted from his survey of the planet by a subordinate.

  “Commander Arnael,” the man said, “We’ve received an emergency distress beacon, but it’s broadcasting at a frequency we haven’t used in a very long time.”

  The Commander turned on the computer built into his desk. A holographic screen emerged displaying its contents at an angle visible only to the commander. As he sat down the screen adjusted accordingly.

  “Mobilize the legions, we have a breach.” Commander Arnael said.

  Somewhere in Ethiopian Airspace

  The Present

  The transfer flight was the only reprieve that Sheppard found from the nightmare his day had become. We’ll never find peace, he thought. He was disassociated from the legends and myths that deserved him.

  “I trust you rested” Sheppard asked a man sitting next to him. His countenance looked rather dismayed, ravaged by his constant struggle with time.

  “Yes I did, thank you.” The man said, “Although I imagine you didn’t.”

  “Unfortunately I can afford neither solace nor tranquility…there’s always too much to think about. My flight from my mortal life was very eventful…”

  “The woman you met on the road is fine, the officer called in an ambulance for her. She’s safely at home now.”

  “That’s good to hear.”

  “And I’m sure you’ve had time to read up on the recent reports from orbit.”

  “Like everything else this was inevitable.”

  “But for our sake and theirs we feel that the current course is in everyone’s best interest. What we know is that they have not discovered what it really is, and we want to keep it that way.”

  “Who else is involved?”

  “The media has leaked the story world-wide, by tomorrow we can expect a point of no return. Since you are an expert in these types of situations we feel you should be a part of this operation.”

  He was not stirred. Sheppard was responsible for the rift between both worlds, and for centuries since he had kept the covenant a secret.

  “Almost all we have available will arrive by the time we land.”

  “Inform Commander Arnael, and mobilize the strike team.”

  “He was the first to know.”

  “Good, then he should have already made preparations.”

  Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

  Monica opened up what she could of the mysterious fossil.

  It’s human but at the same time the language scrawled on the surface is alien.

  She hesitated to use any unnecessary force. The frame surrounding the fossil was old and porous, and the only safe entry was through the trunk of the neck. She could not help notice the flashes emerging from the interior of the exoskeleton after her initial site assessment.

  She surgically moved her fingers around the face trying not to break any more of the already weathered facial bones. The whole figure exuded an antediluvian aura. But all immediate chemical analysis proved its origin was earth-based and not alien.

  A shiver traveled through her as she felt she was being watched. A woman strode across the hallway at that very instant, her wavy brown hair covered her face but Monica could tell she was watching. Behind the woman Monica noticed Mekias on the phone.

  And he gets to miss out on all the fun.

  “You have to send experts. We have something big I swear!”

  Mekias’s description was enough to elicit interest.

  “And you say the complete skeleton is covered in a what?” His agency director asked.

  “It’s an exoskeleton, artificially constructed as far as we can tell. We can’t see internally but it looks like whatever it was, it needed to interface with its host in order to function. Sir this could possibly be indicative of an advanced species, humanoid at that! It’s got all the museum folks spooked.”

  The director seemed disconcerted, “I’ll see what I can do,” his voice sank, “and Mekias?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Watch yourself out there, with a find like this there could be trouble.” The director knew what was going to happen.

  The conversation left the director uneasy. He reclined into his seat thinking. One of the biggest decisions of his life had posed itself to him and he was putting his two best archaeologists on the line.

  He searched his desk thoroughly until he found a manila folder. He reached for his phone and opened the folder. Inside was a manuscript which read Sleepers, he picked up one of the names on the list immediately and dialed.

&n
bsp; A man with a Spanish dialect picked up the other end of the line.

  “Allo?”

  “It’s been quite a while.” Hearing the man’s voice made the director grin.

  “It certainly has, what is the occasion of this call.” The man could not help but laugh, the director’s voice elicited cordial memories.

  “I really regret to call you like this,” the director added, “but an opportunity has come before us…”

  “What is the matter?” The man’s concern was noticeable.

  “There was a breach.”

  Chapter 5

  Clarity

  Addis Ababa, two miles from the Museum.

  The humid air filled the rear of the cargo truck instantly. Sheppard and the others were on their way to infiltrate the museum, armed and ready for anything. The humid cool air kissed the sweat trailing down their necks. For a moment they felt invincible, as timeless and unending as the wind itself.

  There were three of them, including Sheppard. They were just miles from the museum but they felt no tension, their thoughts always remained blank leaving behind a moment of clarity.

  Sheppard closed his eyes in an attempt to relax. In his mind he was always home, a place where he could contemplate the meaning of his existence. But there was no other place in the universe he could feel this way except on Earth. Memories emerged from his thoughts, synthetically replacing everything in his reality.

  He imagined a place before all this, thousands of years ago atop a peninsula in the African highlands. There were others including him sitting in a shady grove as the crimson twilight glimmered through the trees. He could remember each of them clearly. Dom, Dar, Solb, Arnael, Jo. The last face was a youthful vision of him.

  Outside of the grove stood hundreds of others stomping the ground and beating their chests while chanting wildly. They were waiting for something to be said, but they wanted to hear it from Sheppard himself.